Rich Hill Struggles While Zac Gallen Shines; Pirates Fall 7-3 to D-backs

Recap

It was the tale of two pitchers at Chase Field as the Pittsburgh Pirates were defeated 7-3 by the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night.

Pirates starter Rich Hill (7-9) was tagged for five runs in 4.0 innings of work. The left-hander allowed seven hits, walked four and punched out three batters in what was his 18th start of the season.

On the other side, Zac Gallen (11-3) limited the Pirates to just a single run on four hits across 7.0 innings. The 2023 All-Star didn’t walk a single batter and struck out five.

Carlos Santana drove in two runs with a single to center with the bases loaded in the eighth, but Miguel Castro sealed the win by recording the final three outs.

With the loss, the Pirates fall to 1-6 in the month of July

Key Moment 

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. ripped a three-run home run to left field off of Hill in the third inning to put the D-backs ahead 4-0. Gurriel finished the night 3 for 4 with a homer, two doubles, a walk, four RBIs and two runs scored.

Star of the Game

Co-stars go to Gurriel and Gallen, whose seven strong innings led to his 11th win of the season — tied with Shane McClanahan (Rays) for the most in the big leagues. The right-hander brought his ERA down to 3.04.

Stat of Interest

With a first inning single, Jack Suwinski has now hit safely in eight of his last nine games, going 11 for 27 (.407). Over that span, he has hit two doubles, three home runs and has driven in 10 runs.

Noteworthy

• Henry Davis appeared in a game behind the plate for the first time in his big league career after taking over for Austin Hedges in the bottom of the eighth. Davis also hit leadoff for the first time in his career.
• Four players for Arizona had multi-hit games — Gurriel, Ketel Marte, Corbin Carroll and Kyle Lewis.
• The D-backs, who entered play fourth in baseball with 85 steals, swiped five bags in this one against the Pirates.
• Nick Gonzales saw his five-game hitting streak come to an end after finishing the game hitless in four trips to the plate.
• Andrew McCutchen (right elbow inflammation) and Ke’Bryan Hayes (low back inflammation) were placed on the 10-day IL prior to first pitch while Rob Zastryzny was designated for assignment.
• The Pirates reinstated Ji-Man Choi from the 60-day IL and recalled Cody Bolton from Triple-A Indianapolis.
• In his first game since April, Choi went 0 for 4 with a pair of flyouts, a strikeout and a groundout.

Up Next

The middle game of this three-game set between the Pirates (40-48) and D-backs (51-38) is set for Saturday evening. All-Star Mitch Keller (9-4, 3.52 ERA) will start for Pittsburgh. Arizona has yet to announce a starter. First pitch: 4:10 ET.